FL Man Indicted in Acxiom Database Hacking

A Florida man was indicted yesterday, accused of breaking into and stealing consumer data from Acxiom Corp.'s computer database in 2002 and 2003, the U.S. Justice Department said. The intrusion and theft of data resulted in a loss of more than $7 million, according to the Justice Department.

Scott Levine, 45, of Boca Raton, FL, who ran Snipermail.com Inc., was charged in a 144-count indictment with conspiracy, unauthorized access of a protected computer, access device fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice. The indictment was filed in U.S. District Court in Little Rock, AR.

In July 2003, investigators with the Hamilton County, OH, sheriff's office discovered that an Ohio resident had illegally entered into an Acxiom file transfer protocol service and downloaded consumer data, according to the Justice Department. Investigations, including internal ones conducted by Acxiom, revealed a second set of intrusions into Acxiom, which form the basis of Levine's indictment.

According to the indictment, Levine and others actively concealed computers during the investigation. The indictment charges 139 counts of illegal access, representing 8.2 gigabytes of data.

Justice officials said six other individuals associated with Snipermail have agreed to cooperate in the investigation.